Energy Star - Workplace Cubical

What steps can everyone take to save energy at work? Find out by touring this fun, interactive cubicle! Click on the blue stars to see energy saving tips. Download and share it with co-workers to promote energy efficiency in your office. This virtual office is a part of EPA's ENERGY STAR Bring Your Green to Work campaign, which offers tools and interactive resources that can help you and your coworkers reduce energy use in the office.

Eagle Enterprises:

Eagle Enterprises is a relatively small, rural recycling processing center located in Galva, in western Illinois. Eagle Enterprises’ operation relies mainly on manual labor for sorting and consolidating materials from an elevated sorting line. Check out their website!

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Groot Industries:

Groot is a large urban recycling processing center located in the suburban Chicago area. Groot’s operation is highly automated, relying mainly on mechanized sorting and consolidation of materials with minimal help from human laborers. Check out their website!

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Sims Recycling Solutions:

Sims is located in West Chicago, Illinois and is part of the largest electronics and metals recycling corporation in the world. Sims provides some repair and sales of refurbished computers, but deconstructs and recycles many thousands of tons of electronics each year using a mechanized sorting and separating system.

Sims Recycling Solutions provides complete protection of data for equipment that is remarketed as well as that which is recycled. Items with reuse potential are cleansed following the guidelines detailed by the US Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology in Special Publication 800-88 - Guidelines for Media Sanitization. Hard drives and the data on them that are not suitable for reuse, either because of client request or technology/functionality traits, are destroyed via shredding, as recommended in the US Department of Defense Manual 5220.22-M, National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual. Check out their website!

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BLH Computers:

BLH is located in Springfield, Illinois. BLH repairs, refurbishes and sells many computers and computer components each year, which is a main focus of their business. BLH also deconstructs and recycles an estimated average of 500 tons per year of mixed electronics and components in a what is mainly a manual labor system.

BLH Computers destroys all customer data on hard drives received for recycling using one of two methods. First, if the hard drive can be reused, a hard drive sanitizer is used to wipe the drive to Department of Defense standards. Secondly, if the drive is not to be reused, or if the drive fails the sanitizer, it is physically shredded. Check out their website!

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Engineered Plastic Syst:

Engineered Plastic Systems is located in Elgin, Illinois. EPS uses 100% post-consumer #2 HDPE plastics to create a variety of plastic lumber and plastic lumber products. EPS uses tons of #2 plastic each year, giving extended useful life to millions of containers that may otherwise have ended up in a landfill. Check out their website!

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Land and Lakes:

Land and Lakes is one of the largest commercial composting operations in the Midwest. Land and Lakes operates from several locations; the site profiled here is located at Romeoville, Illinois. Using both heavy machinery and manual labor to process and manage yard waste (branches, brush, leaves and grass clippings), each year, Land and Lakes processes hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of natural waste into a premium finished compost product. Check out their website!

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Backyard Food Scrap Composting:

Ever wonder how to compost your food scraps, leaves or twigs? Take a minute to see three easy methods used in backyards around Illinois, including one in Will County's Channahon area! We also offer a page of tips and information on our website under the Green Guide tab.

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Setting up a School and Workplace Recycling Program:

Many schools and offices offer recycling opportunties to students, faculty and employees. If you are interested in setting up such a recycling program in your organization, be sure to watch this short video from the Illinois Recycling Association and then contact Will County for on-site assistance.

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Terracycle:

Terracycle was founded in 2001 by Tom Szaky when he was a 20-year-old Princeton University freshman. TerraCycle began by producing organic fertilizer, packaging liquid worm poop in used soda bottles. Since then TerraCycle has grown into one of the fastest-growing green companies in the world, serving over 30,000 schools nationwide, including many schools in the Will County area. Check out their website!